During the manufacture and assembly of vehicles, the outer surfaces of body panels can be damaged, causing distortions or flaws. These distortions and flaws can be magnified by the painting process, but are often difficult to detect on unpainted body panels. Failure to catch even the smallest defect can lead to scrapping the body panels after significant cost has been incurred in painting and assembly. Hence, many workers are trained to detect defects or distortions on the outer surfaces of body panels early in the assembly process.
A novel apparatus and methods of using the apparatus to train workers to recognize defects in vehicle body panels are described below.